Liu Zhi Xi paused, feeling a bit awkward. "Sorry, I thought my bodyguard was being overly cautious. It turns out they're Ms. Quan's bodyguards."
Guo Wen frowned. He swallowed the words he wanted to say, then softened his tone. "Quan Jiu, have your bodyguards wait outside first."
Jiang Li deliberately stirred up trouble. "Ms. Quan, the director is really patient with you. If it were anyone else, they'd have been scolded to death by now."
Guo Wen, who already had a short temper, was instantly enraged by the sarcastic remark. "If you were like her and didn't have a single NG on your first day of shooting, I wouldn't scold you. Don't forget you're studying acting."
Jiang Li's face turned red, feeling cornered. She could only say sheepishly, "I didn't mean anything by it, I was just joking."
The other actors, who were also feeling unbalanced, dared not speak up. Especially those who had acted opposite Quan Jiu yesterday were filled with admiration, even jealousy, from the bottom of their hearts.
"Your first scene is with her?" the person standing next to Jiang Li asked in a low voice.
Jiang Li grunted, feeling wronged and angry. She complained in a whisper, "It's too unfair. I just said a truthful thing and got scolded. Even Liu Zhi Xi didn't bring bodyguards to the set. I've never seen anyone so arrogant, and she's a newcomer, what's there to be so proud of?"
The person beside her advised earnestly, "As someone with more experience, I'm kindly reminding you to focus on preparing your own scenes. That woman is truly... capable of making Director Guo scold you until you question your entire existence."
Jiang Li looked astonished. "That exaggerated? Is the director really that biased towards her?"
The person beside her shook their head with a wry smile. "If it were me, I'd be biased too. She's truly... sigh... Yesterday, when I acted opposite her, I had three NGs, all because of me. She's a newcomer, yet she got her part done in one take. I'm a professional actor and I kept getting NGs. There's no comparison, no pain. How can I not get scolded?"
"She... isn't she a screenwriter? Not a professional actor, is Director Guo being extra lenient with her?" Jiang Li asked disbelievingly.
"Director Guo lenient? He wouldn't be lenient even with his own daughter. I've reminded you, I hope everything goes smoothly for you later. Just don't exceed two NGs, or you'll be waiting to be scolded." The speaker shivered, perhaps recalling their own miserable experience of being scolded yesterday, and then quickly focused on memorizing their lines for the day.
Jiang Li shot Quan Jiu a hateful glance. No NGs? How was that possible? It must be the director going easy on her.
Meanwhile, Liu Zhi Xi, with a pleasant expression, advised Guo Wen, "Director, please don't be angry. Ms. Quan is new to the set, she must have many things she doesn't understand or is afraid of. Her bringing bodyguards is because her family is worried about her. It's a parent's heart. Please don't be angry. I'll try to persuade her and let her know that our set is very safe."
Guo Wen wasn't actually angry with Quan Jiu. As other cast and crew members thought, he was simply showing his undisguised favoritism towards Quan Jiu. Why? Because this person was simply a genius.
She had absolutely no acting experience, nor had she studied acting, yet her acting skills were in no way inferior to anyone present, even "crushing" them was not an exaggeration. The only one whose acting could compete with hers without falling behind was Liu Zhi Xi.
But Liu Zhi Xi was a professional actor, not only a child star but also the previous year's Best Actress. It was expected that her acting would be good. Therefore, in comparison, he was so fond of Quan Jiu that he didn't want to say a harsh word.
He truly felt like he had found a treasure without even trying. Guo Wen firmly believed this in his heart, and his tone became even more accommodating. "It's alright, I understand. Quan Jiu, don't worry, the set is very safe. All our equipment is inspected by professionals before use, and there have never been any safety issues."
Quan Jiu smiled apologetically but said nothing. However, the bodyguard's attitude was firm. "We are under orders to protect Ms. Quan's life 24 hours a day. The risk factor for wire work is extremely high, and we must confirm."
Liu Zhi Xi's brow furrowed slightly, and her assistant, Xiao Dong, looked flustered. But seeing that their young lady hadn't spoken, they could only remain silent.
Guo Wen, seeing the bodyguard's unyielding attitude, nodded in agreement. "Alright, then hurry up."
The bodyguards stepped forward, removed the wire harness from Quan Jiu, and then meticulously inspected it.
Just as everyone was waiting to watch the show, the bodyguard suddenly frowned and pointed to an inconspicuous spot on the wire strap. "Director Guo, I now have sufficient reason to suspect that someone on set intended to harm Ms. Quan."
Guo Wen was startled. He strode over, stared at the spot the bodyguard indicated for a few moments, and his expression turned serious.
The bodyguard continued, "This is clearly a deliberate cut made with a knife, and judging by the age of the mark, it was clearly done today."
The knife marks were very obvious, and Guo Wen understood.
He frowned, pondered for a moment, then asked Quan Jiu, "Have you made any enemies?" He didn't believe that someone from the crew would do this.
Quan Jiu looked innocent. "I haven't made enemies with anyone. Besides, I only joined the crew yesterday. The only people I'm somewhat familiar with are you, Director, and Miss Liu Zhi Xi. Today, it's because my family was worried, so they forced me to bring my bodyguards. I didn't expect this outcome."
She truly hadn't expected it. She hadn't expected Liu Zhi Xi to be so ruthless, wanting her life as soon as they met. Very well, very well.
Guo Wen called the wire work supervisor over and questioned him, "When you inspected earlier, why didn't you find any problems with this wire? If it weren't for Quan Jiu's bodyguard re-inspecting it, she would have fallen by now, and we wouldn't know if she was alive or dead. How did you handle this?" He knew they were currently on a rocky terrain, and falling from here would result in death or severe injury.
The supervisor looked wronged. "We inspected everything this morning. We started inspecting all equipment at 5:30 AM, the wires were checked twice, and we even tested them personally..."
The bodyguard immediately retorted, "This scratch isn't large, it wouldn't break immediately, but it would break at a certain moment due to time and gravity."
Guo Wen frowned in thought. "In that case, it might not have been targeting Quan Jiu."
"No, it was targeting Ms. Quan. I've confirmed that only Quan Jiu and Jiang Li were scheduled for wire work today, and this set of wires was for Quan Jiu. There was no mistake. Of course, there's also a 50% chance that the perpetrator mistook the wires and was actually targeting Miss Jiang Li."
Guo Wen thought for a moment, then called Jiang Li over and asked, "Do you have any enemies?"
Jiang Li looked bewildered. "Enemies? I'm just an ordinary actor, how could I have enemies?" Then she saw the wire harness in the bodyguard's hand and exclaimed, "The wire harness was tampered with?"
Her voice was not quiet, and even the surrounding cast and crew heard it. Instantly, the set erupted.
"That's too scary, someone tampered with the wire harness? Is this trying to kill someone?"
"Who did Quan Jiu offend to be so powerful? No wonder she needed bodyguards. That was close, if her bodyguard hadn't insisted on checking, there would have been an accident by now."
"Isn't this a society governed by law? How can it be so brutal? I don't recognize this society."
As the crowd chattered and discussed, Guo Wen, seeing the situation, could only ask everyone to rest in place and then directly took out his phone to dial 120.
"For something like this, we should directly find professionals to investigate. Tell everyone not to leave, maybe we can still find fingerprints."
Quan Jiu glanced at Liu Zhi Xi, who appeared composed, showing no signs of guilt. As for her assistant, their eyes were lowered, and their emotions were unreadable.
"Then let's call the police," she said, although she wasn't sure if anything could be found.
The police arrived quickly. Because it potentially involved attempted murder, they also conducted fingerprint analysis on the scene, especially on the wire harness.
However, after fingerprint matching on the scene, it was found that only the fingerprints of the staff, Quan Jiu, and the bodyguards were on the wire harness. No suspicious identities could be found. Moreover, since the incident had not actually occurred, the investigation ultimately yielded no results.
However, in light of this, the four bodyguards became even more vigilant, constantly watching Quan Jiu's surroundings. As for the others, they no longer said anything about Quan Jiu's bodyguards.